Ghazli

Gazli ( Uzbek: Gazli ) is a city in the Romitan region of the Bukhara region of Uzbekistan with a population of 12,268 people ^[1] . Located in the southern part of the Kyzyl Kum desert , 85 km northwest of Bukhara.

City
Ghazli
Gazli
A country	Uzbekistan
Region	Bukhara
Area	Romitan
History and Geography
Founded	1956
Center height	186 m
Timezone
Population
Population	12,268 people ( 2009 )

The village was founded in 1956 as one of the centers of natural gas production . Explored gas reserves - about 500 billion m³.

It was almost completely destroyed by a series of strong earthquakes on May 17, 1976 at 7 hours 58 minutes 33 seconds local time. The population was warned by seismologists and a preliminary earthquake on April 8, so they managed to avoid large casualties (most of the population lived in a camp since April 8). ^[2] The magnitude of these earthquakes (on the Richter scale) was M = 7.0 and M = 7.3, respectively. The seismic effect at the epicenter reached 9-10 points on a 12-point scale of seismic intensity. The focal region of these earthquakes was located at a depth of 20-25 km. The next strong tremor with magnitude M = 7.2 occurred on March 20, 1984 in the same center, shifting slightly to the west; Significant destruction of buildings and structures again occurred in the village. ^[3] Three-time repetition of earthquakes with a magnitude of more than 7 for 8 years is a rare case in world seismological practice. ^[four]

There are assumptions about the technogenic nature of the Gazli earthquakes, which could be caused by uncontrolled development of a gas field in the Gazli region, which created a huge field of additional stresses in the earth's crust. Until 1976, the Gazli region belonged to the region of 4-point earthquakes (on a 12-point scale) ^[5] .